"Acute ear infection"

After having a viral infection for 5 days with painful sinusitis I woke on Saturday morning with excrutiating ear pain in my right ear and a complete loss of hearing on that side. I went to the Brants Bridge walk in clinic which states on the website that it deals with minor injuries and illnesses. I considered this to be minor illness but I was immediately made to feel like I had done the wrong thing by going there. Apparently this service is to ease pressure on A&E and not for things that should be seen by a GP which apparently mine was.

Perhaps this should be made clearer on the website.

I was then done a huge favour when they agreed to see me anyway.

After taking my temperature, my blood pressure and my pulse I was told that what I had was most certainly viral and that I should leave and if I felt so bad Harry Potter was on this afternoon and I could watch that with my children on the sofa.

Not once was I even asked about my ear and not once was it looked at. I felt I was treated in a disparaging manner and made to feel like I was wasting their time.

After spending a few hours at home in tears due to the pain, I phoned 111 to get an out of hours GP appointment. I went back to Brants Bridge, upstairs this time. A polite doctor actually LOOKED in my ear and prescribed me antibiotics for my extremely inflamed and infected ear canal.

I do think clearer directions about what can be seen there and perhaps a touch of empathy and respect are needed. This is the second time I've been treated like a piece of dirt by nurse practitioners at this clinic.